1 Republican vs. 3 Democrats

There they were--four candidates from two parties vying for one office.

In this first real glimpse at the new political world created by this year’s blanket primary, one part Republican politics was mixed with three parts Democratic as Dan Lungren, the lone GOP entry, faced a trio of rivals--businessman Al Checchi, U.S. Rep. Jane Harman and Lt. Gov. Gray Davis.

Was it a fair fight? Since this has never been done before in California, political observers were not sure what to expect. Would the Democrats gang up on Lungren? The attorney general joked about that prospect in his opening comments Wednesday.

“This is a little unusual, being the only Republican [against] three Democrats,” he said. “But I went to Notre Dame, and three to one were pretty good odds, so we’ll be happy to do that.”

Actually, the upshot of this early step toward the grand experiment of a blanket primary was remarkably smooth, many observers said. In fact, the Democrats were more cordial to Lungren than they were to each other.

Harman nodded agreement with several Lungren comments and said she shares credit with the attorney general for lowering the state’s crime rate through her votes in Congress. Davis agreed with Lungren’s budget assessment--that voters want a tax or fee cut when there is a surplus. And Checchi, even when he disputed Lungren’s punitive approach to crime-fighting, still gave the attorney general a pat on the back.

“I don’t doubt anybody up here is against crime and that you’re an outstanding crime-fighter, Dan,” he said.

GOP strategists had warned Lungren that the Democrats could decide to whip up the voters in their own party by beating up the one from the Republican Party. Perhaps they would raise controversial subjects for Lungren, such as tobacco, abortion and assault weapons.

In fact, the opposite happened. As Lungren’s campaign had hoped, the Democrats were too focused on each other to worry much about him.

Only one Democrat took a direct shot at Lungren. In her closing statement, Harman blasted all of her opponents and included a prediction that Lungren would be a divisive governor.

But Lungren brushed it off with a joke: “Jane, thank you for that positive roundup.”

More than anything else, the debate offered Lungren an opportunity to reach Republican voters who--so far--have shown little excitement in the governor’s campaign.

Republican strategists fear that many people don’t know that Lungren is the only major GOP candidate in the race. And, despite his five terms in Congress and two as attorney general, voters also don’t know much about him.

In a blanket primary, the campaign also wanted to capture the attention of Republicans who might consider straying to a Democrat. To do that, Lungren wanted to demonstrate that there are key philosophical differences between Republicans and Democrats.

“We came in with the mission of showing voters that there is a difference between mainstream conservative ideas and mainstream liberal ideas,” said David Puglia, Lungren’s campaign manager. “That’s what we needed to accomplish.”

Democratic strategists arrived at the forum Wednesday with some mild fear that blending a Republican voice into their debate could make things more confusing for voters.

Would the political mixture create a cacophony of incongruous voices from the left and the right? Would it move the debate to the political center? Or would the contrasting ideas provide voters with a broad look at California’s problems?

As it turned out, analysts said the forum offered the candidates more opportunities than hurdles.

Bill Carrick, campaign strategist for Harman, agreed that the event provided Lungren a helpful opportunity to introduce himself and show voters how he contrasts with Democrats. But he also said the Republican ideas did not tangle up the Democrats.

“I think the issues were remarkably consistent with what they would have been without [Lungren] in the race,” he said. “There were no disasters. As a practicing Democrat, I don’t feel shortchanged.”